A mother and her two children narrowly escaped being crushed to death when killer winds overturned a 30-ton lorry, this week 30 years ago.

The articulated lorry, loaded with timber, was overturned by 90 mph winds and tipped on its side outside Northwold Primary School in Upper Clapton as it rounded a bend.

"We were just inches away from being crushed," said the mum who lived nearby. "If it had happened minutes earlier there would have been carnage because the pavement was packed with people."

The family were almost buried under tons of chipboard planks as the lorry crashed into a wall flattening a car and knocking over a lamppost.

The same week, police launched a hunt after a woman was raped in broad daylight in a cemetery in Stoke Newington. The 25-year-old business woman was dragged off a main path and raped beside a grave. Police believed the attack was planned and released a photofit.